Neil_McCauley on 26/7/2006 at 17:35
I'm sure this has been discussed to death, but this is a Thief forum, so here we go:
I've just played this level again after more than 2 years, this time in Thief Gold, on HARD difficulty. As you all know, this level is long and GODDAMNED DIFFICULT. I'm glad I didn't choose Expert.
It took me more than 2 hours, probably a total of 6 playing hours. Why so much? I didn't buy enough ammo. 5 fire arrows, 4 mines, 4 flashbombs. Not enough! So I had to use them sparingly and and effectively, and had to re-play many times.
Just getting the Eye was hard enough, but that's like a 1/4 of the mission!
I really loved playing it. Exploring a dark, haunted Cathedral...how cool is that? Having to blow open the door was a nice touch. And when the Haunts were chasing me...I don't think there's anything more terrifying in the game. I always get that chill down my spine. Turn around and they are right on your ass! I was glad I finished it, as it was exhausting, but...I missed playing it.
For some reason, on Gold, the post-mission movie didn't play--with [SPOILER]Victoria and Constantine...[/SPOILER]
Escape! was as far as I made it through Dark Project 2 years ago; I was just sick and tired of the damned ratmen.
theBlackman on 26/7/2006 at 18:31
Just inch your way through in the shadows. You should be able to get through and snatch the eye without killing a single haunt or Zombie.
If you wait, watch and listen, you should be able to avoid all of them including the mob in the cellars. There are more than enough shadows to hide in. :)
A "Conan the Barbarian" approach doesn't really work all that well. ;)
Same thing with "Escape". Easy does it and you can get out in full health and with all your tools and more that you pickup on the way.
PS. Water arrows work well on the clouds of stinging flys.
mrsmr2 on 26/7/2006 at 18:56
Strangely enough, I've just completed it today for the first time.
Having read people's comments on it on this forum and coupled with the fact I don't like zombies, I expected to find it really scary and difficult. However, I was really disappointed with it.
Two things killed it for me (both self inflicted):
1) I placed skulls against the main doors so I could leave at any time; and
2) I killed the haunts and apparitions straight away by [SPOILER]throwing the hammer at them[/SPOILER]
Once the haunts and apparitions were gone it was a case of going backwards and forwards finding things and avoiding zombies. I found it really tedious.
Admittedly, when I started it late last night, it was scary. Especially with the haunts tracking me down and chasing me around the cathedral. That made it tense.
However, once they were gone, the level was really dull (plus today I was playing in daylight).
I think using the [SPOILER]hammer is a real killer to this mission because you can almost snipe the haunts and they won't come after you[/SPOILER]
I found The Haunted Cathedral much scarier.
Goldmoon Dawn on 27/7/2006 at 00:06
To say the Mission wasn't scary the first time through for you, when you obviously did your homework and used the established cheats of the trade, how could you possibly fit any fear or apprehension into it?!
Imagine playing through it the first time when the game was first out and noone knew the ins and outs of the Mission already...
As you said, it was self-inflicted so...
Nice job!
:thumb:
And that goes for that speedrunning the last few Missions of Dark argument in that other thread too! The first time through if you are speedrunnning, I doubt you were absorbed properly into the thick atmosphere. And if you are speedrunning easily *after* you know the Missions, well go figure!
Aedryn on 27/7/2006 at 02:00
Try using your sword instead of the hammer.
ganac on 27/7/2006 at 02:17
Quote Posted by mrsmr2
1) I placed skulls against the main doors so I could leave at any time
:laff: :tsktsk: The Eye knows, Mister "look-at-me-i've-never-played-theif-gold-before-and-i-don't--- ah, forget it
Jarkko Ranta on 27/7/2006 at 08:16
Quote Posted by spix's circlet
Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! Learn something new everyday. :D And I believe the stinging flys are known as carrion divers.
BTW, I've heard Life At the Party has a book that names those bugs but I've never faced it (well, it IS a big mission...). Can someone tell me where the book/scroll is, 'cause it kills the joy to open the RES-files and read it 'cheating'.
mrsmr2 on 27/7/2006 at 08:22
Agree with the comments except that they are concentrating on the doors.
The blocking of the doors had very little impact on the suspense - it just made the tasks for Murus even more tedious because I knew I could leave at any time.
What killed it was the removal of the haunts. They were the only things that added tension to the game because they were fast and lethal.
I think if it had been a darker level rather than almost fully lit, it would have been more atmospheric.
Next time I play through I'll avoid taking out the haunts and apparitions until later.
Overall, it's a similar effect to blackjacking all the major guards in a typical tma mission, yet, [SPOILER]as the objective later ask you to kill the haunts, it's not like I was doing anything fundamentally wrong by killing them in the first place.[/SPOILER]
I still found other missions more scary: THC (more scary); The Sword (altogether unnerving - I couldn't wait to get out), and even Bonehoard (took me ages to get out as I tried to get out the way I came in, and I was desparate as I kept retracing my steps through the Burricks caves)
dlw6 on 27/7/2006 at 09:46
What annoyed me about RTC was that, at the end of THC when The Eye was talking to me, I used my remaining arrows and mines to kill the haunts through the window. When I returned in RTC, they were walking around again. It didn't seem fair. Compared to that, I was only mildly annoyed when the doors closed, "Well, Mr. Eye, you don't WANT to be rescued? Too bad!"
Now, of course, I understand a bit how MIS files work and know that it would have been difficult for the designers to carry over those kills. Like many Thief features, they probably never considered that someone would do that.
Don
Shouldn't this discussion be in T1&2 Hints and Spoilers?
Aedryn on 27/7/2006 at 16:15
Quote Posted by dlw6
Like many Thief features, they probably never considered that someone would do that.
Like getting into the catherdral the first time around? Would have saved alot of time.
